Cylance

Cylance Inc. is an American software firm founded in 2012. It develops antivirus programs and other types of computer software that prevent, rather than reactively detect, viruses and malware . The company is based in Irvine, California . [1] Cylance has been described as “the first company to apply artificial intelligence , algorithmic science and machine learning to cyber security .” [2]

Cylance executives have made their mission is to block computer viruses or malware before they have an effect on a user’s computer. [2]

Founding

Cylance was founded by Stuart McClure and Ryan Permeh. McClure was previously co-founder of Foundstone , a security consultancy, which he sold to McAfee in 2004, becoming that firm’s Chief Tech Officer . [3] McClure is also the author of Hacking Exposed , the best-selling IT security book to date. [4]

Cylance’s founding came about as a result of having been previously given cybersecurity, where he was often asked how he was protected from his own computer. He noted that he lacked trust in any security technology since it was reactive in nature, meaning it only cleaned up after an attack. Consequently, McClure has developed a technology based on “proactive protection”. [4]

People

McClure is co-founder, CEO, and President of Cylance. Permeh is co-founder and Chief Scientist. Jeff Ishmael is CFO. Shane Shook is Chief Knowledge Officer and Global Vice President of Consulting. Malcolm Harkins is Global Chief Information Security Officer. [1]

In March 2016, Cylance named Silicon Valley lawyer Brady Berg and its General Counsel and human-resources executive Vina Leite and its Chief People Officer. [5]

Product Features

McClure stated that Cylance’s antivirus product does not use typical security features, such as unique signatures, heuristics, behavioral analysis, sandboxing, virtualization, or blacklisting. Rather, the product uses artificial intelligence to identify and stop attackers. McClure stated that they are similar to the human brain’s identification of threats, they “teaches” computers to identify indicators of an attack. [3]

Operation Cleaver

Main article: Operation Cleaver

Operation Cleaver was a covert cyberwarfare operated by the Iranian government against targets of the world, specifically critical infrastructure entities. Cylance uncovered the operation and described it in a report released in late 2014. Iranian officials rejected Cylance’s conclusions, but the FBI tacitly confirmed them. [8] [9] [10]

MOTEX Collaboration

In May 2016, Cylance announced a new collaboration with MOTEX , an Osaka -based firm, to integrate MOTEX LanScope, an endpoint security management, and CylancePROTECT, Cylance’s leading product, which actively detects and will malware. The end product will be called CylancePROTECT Cat. This collaboration brings Cylance’s activities into the Japanese market. [2]

Honors and awards

In July 2016, McClure was named Orange County Entrepreneur of the Year in the category of technology. [4]